%0 Journal Article
%@ 2406-9132
%A Heyward, Mark
%A Hadiwijaya, Aos Santosa
%D 2014
%F UNY:24985
%I Pascasarjana UNY
%J International Conference on Fundamentals and Implementation of Education (ICFIE) 2014
%T Policy, politics and pendidikan: teacher deployment in Indonesia
%U http://eprints.uny.ac.id/24985/
%X The problem of uneven teacher deployment has long been recognized in Indonesia. With an  overall ratio of approximately one teacher to 16 primary school students (1:13 in juniorsecondary),  there is a substantial oversupply of teachers. However, these are poorly distributed.  Urban schools are commonly overstaffed while schools in rural and isolated areas are  understaffed. This situation creates inefficiencies within the system and penalizes poor and  marginalized communities. The end result is a disparity in education quality between schools, and  an overall constraint to quality improvement.  A joint Five Minister Edict was issued in 2011, requiring all districts to redistribute teachers  evenly and according to need. The edict was issued by the Ministers of Education, Religious  Affairs, Finance, Home Affairs and State Bureaucracy. Although this regulation required the  redistribution to be implemented by end of 2013, few districts have complied. The major  challenges to implementation are vested political interests and local resistance. Teachers and  their spouses (many of whom are civil servants) commonly provide a political support base for  local politicians and are rewarded with attractive placements. In addition, districts lack the  capacity to accurately map teacher distribution or conduct analysis to identify policy solutions.  As teachers are under the authority of districts, the central and provincial governments have  played no significant role.  The USAID-funded PRIORITAS project developed and implemented a teacher deployment  program known as Penataan dan Pemerataan Guru (PPG) in 23 districts. Using the national  education database (DAPODIK) and working with local partners from the districts, universities  and province-level education quality assurance agencies (LPMP), the project has successfully  mapped teacher distribution, developed policy solutions, conducted public consultations (multistakeholder  forums) and is supporting implementation in these districts. The program is being  expanded to more districts and a national policy dialogue is underway. The analysis of teacher  needs is based on minimum service standards and requirements of the curriculum (2006 and  2013).  Results from the initial sample of 23 districts were collated at national level and are summarized  in this paper. The policy solutions vary depending on local contexts. These include teacher  transfers, incentives for remote placements, school mergers, multi-grade teaching, mobile  teachers, and retraining teachers to enable them to teach different subjects or levels. Such  policies have the potential to greatly improve the quality of education throughout the country by  ensuring that schools are properly staffed, improving equity, and improving system efficiency,  releasing funds for quality improvement.